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Bat Week Is Coming Soon!

Last Halloween, many parks celebrated the first annual Bat Week. This multi-agency, educational week returns this year, October 26-31, 2015. Now is the time for parks to make plans to #SavetheBats.

Bats are an important part of our ecosystems and they face significant threats. Mortalities due to white-nose syndrome (a fatal fungal disease that affects bats), collisions, toxins, and habitat loss and fragmentation, all contribute to significantly declining bat populations.

Bats are essential for healthy ecosystems; they eat insects, pollinate plants, disperse seeds, and serve as prey themselves. Bat Week is a fun way to shed some light on these nocturnal mammals.

During Bat Week, stay tuned to Explore Nature on Facebook, @NatureNPS on Twitter and Instagram for facts about bats, links to parks’ bat programs, and photos of bats. We’ll hear from scientists about protecting bat habitats in parks, new mapping techniques to help monitor bats, and much more. This will be a fun week focused on bats in national parks.

Visit batweek.org for more ideas on how to celebrate Bat Week and visit the Bats page on Explore Nature to learn more about bats in parks.

Reminder: A small percentage of bats can be infected with diseases, such as rabies. These bats may exhibit unusual behavior, which increases the risk for bat-human contact and exposure. Remember to never touch a bat and always tell a park ranger if you see one.